new work

The current polarity is still between a "free-for-all" for Business - esp. Big Business and some  holding back by the state. That polarity is dead and buried. The New now relavant Polarityis between Enterrpise from the top wit the ever deepening bifurcation between rich and poor (Oasis vs. Desert People) and ENTERPRISES FROM THE BOTTOM UP. The New Economy on which we are working is more entrepreneurial than the current top down enterprse system. It is a FOUNDATION ECONOMY it uses new technoogies to create "start-ups" that enable people to become economically SELF-RELIANT. (July 8th Johannesburg)

New Work is an ascent, an up-rising through the intelligent and imaginative use of a spate of startlingly innovative technologies, some of which are extremely basic, while others are miles beyond where computers are now.

These Technologies have in common that they are all “small-scale and small-space.” They no longer require gigantic factories with long lines of enormous machines that necessitate boatloads of capital. Instead, they can be grouped together in a neighborhood, or village or a community center. In short, one half of New Work is the transformation from Industrial to “Community Production.”  The result will be the creation of new enterprises, but also progressively the increasing local production of food, housing, and energy, and equally of furniture, appliances and clothing, and beyond that of still more of what is needed for a pleasurable, modern and fulfilling life.

The foundation of this New Economy, is the base on which a new system of work and eventually a new life-style and culture can be evolved.  Instead of being restricted to one ever more problematic mode of work, that of jobs, 

Much in Boing Boing lately about the Downsizing of Detroit into Semi-Rural farms. 

From the article by Cory Doctorow - 

"The city of Detroit is proposing to give over a quarter of its land to be turned into "semi-rural" fields and farms, with the surviving neighborhoods standing in "pockets in expanses of green." The proposal is politically charged (serving a death-sentence on a whole neighborhood is bound to be controversial) but the idea of "downsizing" Detroit seems to have wide acceptance."

Read the entire article and see links to more articles on this subject here.

Kronk Village 

This project in Detroit, MI includes the historic rehabilitation and “green” adaptive reuse renovation of the existing Kronk Community Building (including the Kronk Boxing Gym founded by Emanuel Steward) as a multi-use center and the redevelopment of existing vacant public blocks and adjoining sites (Atkinson Playground) as a sustainable residential neighborhood.

There are approximately 35 acres of predominantly vacant, publicly-owned land surrounding the historic Kronk facility. The proposed new neighborhood development would contain a mix of approximately 250-350 units of affordable senior and family rental and/or cooperative housing in a variety of residential  forms, including single family homes, duplexes, rowhouses and multi-family apartments. A green infrastructure of sustainable urban initiatives including a district-wide geothermal utility and food farming is integrated into a traditional, walkable, transit-oriented “New Village” plan.